it is not like most people will simply dump Windows because they can play the same games on either of them. If Linux want to really make a stand in this market it needs to make AAA game development much more profitable on the platform and have interesting exclusive titles. And this serves only for new titles. Windows has the advantage of the already huge game library it supports.
For now all I can choose is "boot a system that run only some games" or "boot a system that will run all of them". If you consider only gaming the latter is much better without argument.
... but I would like to live just enough so my brain could be faithfully recreated in a artificial neural network and then my mind would have the potential to live forever. Hell, as I said before, where are mine Deus Ex like limbs and neural implants?
EA doing this is just amusing, ironic and hypocritical. Ow well, nothing new here.
To me this seen only the big kid in town bulling the newcomer to spend some millions in lawyers in both sides. In this case the one with the biggest stick wins, and even with EA doing so bad in the stock market Zynga is worse. I particularly despise both and think they represent the worse there is in this industry and corporate business in general. For all I care and if they pay their employees properly they can just bankrupt. Since they will not pay their employees properly in case of bankruptcy they can still exist, I'll just ignore them all.
If they remade the assets and did not copy directly the files it's not copyright infringement in international law. Same thing with game mechanics. If Zynga did not copy/paste the code or texts from EA them there's no ground in international copyright law. But since it's an American court that will judge this I have even less idea of what will happen.
...they could power my yet-to-be cybernetic implants. Why do I get the feeling that they the question they should be working on is "How can our bodies handle some metal/semiconductor inside without killing itself?"
A cynical person might say that thinking logically is a lacking skill for most people.
I would say that and more: I think logical thinking should be taught, but programming languages fall too much into "trends" to be of any use in teaching applicable skills for everyone. I think important concepts in programming (like algorithms in general) could be taught at the expense of some math subjects.
You can use basic VPS service (I use vps.net myself for my site hosting and works fine), set up a Linux distro you like and use Putty on your machine to tunnel over. And there you go: Secure VPN.
That`s a good idea but it`s not viable. AKA I don`t know someone that meet the suggested requisites, besides my own personal requisites. That`s what you get when you don`t have connections... or live outside a important country in this line of business that limits that kind of contest to it`s own territory. I`m pretty sure that other people around the world could do some awesome stuff but are simply not able to join, even doing a good job.
I did made a Pong "clone" 2-3 years ago. Got some new mechanics, online multiplayer support, achievements and six different scenarios (if you can believe that). Pretty much unpublished only for an early version that I put on a national contest. The catch is: I`m from Brazil so I can`t submit the damn game to Atari. It would be nice to have the visibility.
There is a network of sorts, but no LAN. There would be a central hub where all users connect first. This central hub then redirects the user to connect to another server that is available. Servers keep the hub aware of their current load. Database infrastructure should be unified so a player can connect to any of the servers. After the redirection the hub must stop handling that player`s request or there`s no point to this system. The "secondary" servers should keep database access to a minimum, using spare bandwidth to constantly save updated user data (like number of wins/losses, number of matches played and other statistics).
Just keep in mind that I never really implemented something like this. I took inspiration on modern MMOs with many shards, but each shard has its own database for most of the information (character data in general, account data is centralized). I`m assuming you will only have a central database.
TCP/IP is standard for every network capable programming language. An ActionScript3 game can easily communicate with Java written servers (personal experience on this specific case). There may be some minor problems (pesky string enders, ASCII or UTF encoding and so on) but they can be handled.
I think this is not the way to teach this lesson, since it breaks the game for other people too. I agree that this must be tackled but I think Gabe Newell (last question @ http://www.develop-online.net/features/1192/Gabe-Newell-on-Valve) has a better idea about this. The only problem is the evaluation system that will be used. Any system will be unfair and wrong at some point, and who implements this must be aware and ready for the backfire.
Keep user information at a minimum inside your game. If you are not going to handle payments directly you only need an alias (username, not the real name), a password and maybe an e-mail. At the database don`t use default ports and restrict database users to access the database only through the IPs your servers are into, you should avoid using the domain names at the database configuration if you use static IPs.
Scalability can be tricky. I never faced this problem directly but I`m aware that AWS is a good choice most of the time. For now I use vps.net for hosting of small servers. Worst case you will have to make a server front-end to manage incoming connections and redirect them to a lightly loaded "shard", so you can keep everything simple for the user at the end.
To get exposure you have to actively ask people to participate into the evaluation process. Ask for likes and shares on Facebook and ask for a 5 star classification at the IStore. If people like your game they will comply. Just don`t get overboard with the number of requests (one every 3 matches should be good but is a wild guess depending on how log each match is) and keep it simple (direct links to the evaluation page).
Make sure that your electronic versions can all play together, so that people don't need the same version of the device to play against their friends.
It may seem like a dumb request, but most Windows, OS X, Xbox360, PS3 and Wii games don't seem to understand this simple concept. Maybe it's companies who want to keep their users inside their own walls, I don't know.
The reason why games can`t be played online between multiple platforms is difference in controls (Ex.: A FPS player in a computer has an advantage against console players). In a turn-based game this should be no problem, so it can be done.
In consoles there are issues with communication middleware (VOIP capabilities, text messages inside games), witch is different for each platform too.
run if they are armed with pitchforks and torches. We try to reason if they are equipped with long range weaponry and ignore otherwise.
This is about responsibility of those that create or publish the information. The mob got it wrong because someone told them something wrong. That is about people checking one source and taking that as absolute true. That's comfortable and easy. To think we must search and digest new information based on what we already know. Never take info for granted, mainly when it is too good to be true. The less people joining the mob (meaning you can avoid joining having a mind by yourself) the lesser the problem will be.
is to put medium sized valuables under the seats. The cars I drive usually have that space and it's almost impossible to actually see if there's something down there. Some laptops may or may not fit down there. You'll have to test it. There's always a chance to kick the equipment so if it's something really sensitive I would advise against it.
I could say that suing people will raise "word-of-mouth". Even more than letting people download stuff freely. Bad sh*t always get more attention than good stuff.
here prices are sky right and population's consumption power is not first world, mainly because of taxes that double the game's cost for the consumer. Prices here are not as bad as Australian's as far as I know, but it's the major player into piracy decision making, besides the growing culture of "only dumb people pay for what you can get for free".
I agree! Nowadays I get small victories whenever I can. Indy games are the main source of those. Those are enough for now and I hope they last until I can make my own contribution.
Subtlety can make all difference. Intention too. At his time Pong was a great effort to be creative. And that is really important here. The point here is that instead of being made by people trying to be creative games are being made by businessman with simple old tricks out of their hats. And really, Pong was mind-blowing at his time for the technical achievements, but this social games have nothing remarkable or creative. That is the real issue. They are just making the same-old recipe to make people interested, not looking for something else. I don't know about you but I respect people that put effort to "write the book" instead of just using it. When I play I look for something new, and Pong delivered it at his time. This games now (infinite sequels, social, casual) fail to bring something new, thus they fail to provide the reward I look for.
Well... there was no "mind tricks" used in Pong. Players get hooked because our little brains are conditioned to look for rewards and invest effort (or the human equivalent: money) to get some reward and social games use every trick in the book to do so for money. All games want money? Sure they want. But the amount of effort they spend trying to convince you that they deserve your money is important too.
From my perspective as a consumer, what's the difference? It's all the same to me as long as I'm satisfied.
The difference is in how you do that. Behaviorism techniques, like the ones used in facebook games, are easy to put into a game but hollow. Players used to higher reward points are numb to this kind of trick. So there is people that is not satisfied.
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it is not like most people will simply dump Windows because they can play the same games on either of them. If Linux want to really make a stand in this market it needs to make AAA game development much more profitable on the platform and have interesting exclusive titles. And this serves only for new titles. Windows has the advantage of the already huge game library it supports. For now all I can choose is "boot a system that run only some games" or "boot a system that will run all of them". If you consider only gaming the latter is much better without argument.
... but I would like to live just enough so my brain could be faithfully recreated in a artificial neural network and then my mind would have the potential to live forever. Hell, as I said before, where are mine Deus Ex like limbs and neural implants?
EA doing this is just amusing, ironic and hypocritical. Ow well, nothing new here. To me this seen only the big kid in town bulling the newcomer to spend some millions in lawyers in both sides. In this case the one with the biggest stick wins, and even with EA doing so bad in the stock market Zynga is worse. I particularly despise both and think they represent the worse there is in this industry and corporate business in general. For all I care and if they pay their employees properly they can just bankrupt. Since they will not pay their employees properly in case of bankruptcy they can still exist, I'll just ignore them all.
If they remade the assets and did not copy directly the files it's not copyright infringement in international law. Same thing with game mechanics. If Zynga did not copy/paste the code or texts from EA them there's no ground in international copyright law. But since it's an American court that will judge this I have even less idea of what will happen.
How rude! A mass driver shell from orbit should do the trick. Or a huge electromagnet conveniently positioned beside the hard drive.
I`m sorry for my oversight. I hope you are not offended. I was thinking about optional hardware, that does not need autonomy as pacemakers.
...they could power my yet-to-be cybernetic implants. Why do I get the feeling that they the question they should be working on is "How can our bodies handle some metal/semiconductor inside without killing itself?"
A cynical person might say that thinking logically is a lacking skill for most people. I would say that and more: I think logical thinking should be taught, but programming languages fall too much into "trends" to be of any use in teaching applicable skills for everyone. I think important concepts in programming (like algorithms in general) could be taught at the expense of some math subjects.
You can use basic VPS service (I use vps.net myself for my site hosting and works fine), set up a Linux distro you like and use Putty on your machine to tunnel over. And there you go: Secure VPN.
Yep. The name is a joke and some of the features (Ex. "A ending that makes sense") but Notch is working on this for real. He wrote on Twitter later: https://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/186739199523831810
That`s a good idea but it`s not viable. AKA I don`t know someone that meet the suggested requisites, besides my own personal requisites. That`s what you get when you don`t have connections... or live outside a important country in this line of business that limits that kind of contest to it`s own territory. I`m pretty sure that other people around the world could do some awesome stuff but are simply not able to join, even doing a good job.
I did made a Pong "clone" 2-3 years ago. Got some new mechanics, online multiplayer support, achievements and six different scenarios (if you can believe that). Pretty much unpublished only for an early version that I put on a national contest. The catch is: I`m from Brazil so I can`t submit the damn game to Atari. It would be nice to have the visibility.
There is a network of sorts, but no LAN. There would be a central hub where all users connect first. This central hub then redirects the user to connect to another server that is available. Servers keep the hub aware of their current load. Database infrastructure should be unified so a player can connect to any of the servers. After the redirection the hub must stop handling that player`s request or there`s no point to this system. The "secondary" servers should keep database access to a minimum, using spare bandwidth to constantly save updated user data (like number of wins/losses, number of matches played and other statistics).
Just keep in mind that I never really implemented something like this. I took inspiration on modern MMOs with many shards, but each shard has its own database for most of the information (character data in general, account data is centralized). I`m assuming you will only have a central database.
TCP/IP is standard for every network capable programming language. An ActionScript3 game can easily communicate with Java written servers (personal experience on this specific case). There may be some minor problems (pesky string enders, ASCII or UTF encoding and so on) but they can be handled.
I think this is not the way to teach this lesson, since it breaks the game for other people too. I agree that this must be tackled but I think Gabe Newell (last question @ http://www.develop-online.net/features/1192/Gabe-Newell-on-Valve) has a better idea about this. The only problem is the evaluation system that will be used. Any system will be unfair and wrong at some point, and who implements this must be aware and ready for the backfire.
Keep user information at a minimum inside your game. If you are not going to handle payments directly you only need an alias (username, not the real name), a password and maybe an e-mail. At the database don`t use default ports and restrict database users to access the database only through the IPs your servers are into, you should avoid using the domain names at the database configuration if you use static IPs.
Scalability can be tricky. I never faced this problem directly but I`m aware that AWS is a good choice most of the time. For now I use vps.net for hosting of small servers. Worst case you will have to make a server front-end to manage incoming connections and redirect them to a lightly loaded "shard", so you can keep everything simple for the user at the end.
To get exposure you have to actively ask people to participate into the evaluation process. Ask for likes and shares on Facebook and ask for a 5 star classification at the IStore. If people like your game they will comply. Just don`t get overboard with the number of requests (one every 3 matches should be good but is a wild guess depending on how log each match is) and keep it simple (direct links to the evaluation page).
Make sure that your electronic versions can all play together, so that people don't need the same version of the device to play against their friends.
It may seem like a dumb request, but most Windows, OS X, Xbox360, PS3 and Wii games don't seem to understand this simple concept. Maybe it's companies who want to keep their users inside their own walls, I don't know.
The reason why games can`t be played online between multiple platforms is difference in controls (Ex.: A FPS player in a computer has an advantage against console players). In a turn-based game this should be no problem, so it can be done. In consoles there are issues with communication middleware (VOIP capabilities, text messages inside games), witch is different for each platform too.
run if they are armed with pitchforks and torches. We try to reason if they are equipped with long range weaponry and ignore otherwise. This is about responsibility of those that create or publish the information. The mob got it wrong because someone told them something wrong. That is about people checking one source and taking that as absolute true. That's comfortable and easy. To think we must search and digest new information based on what we already know. Never take info for granted, mainly when it is too good to be true. The less people joining the mob (meaning you can avoid joining having a mind by yourself) the lesser the problem will be.
is to put medium sized valuables under the seats. The cars I drive usually have that space and it's almost impossible to actually see if there's something down there. Some laptops may or may not fit down there. You'll have to test it. There's always a chance to kick the equipment so if it's something really sensitive I would advise against it.
I could say that suing people will raise "word-of-mouth". Even more than letting people download stuff freely. Bad sh*t always get more attention than good stuff.
here prices are sky right and population's consumption power is not first world, mainly because of taxes that double the game's cost for the consumer. Prices here are not as bad as Australian's as far as I know, but it's the major player into piracy decision making, besides the growing culture of "only dumb people pay for what you can get for free".
I agree! Nowadays I get small victories whenever I can. Indy games are the main source of those. Those are enough for now and I hope they last until I can make my own contribution.
Subtlety can make all difference. Intention too. At his time Pong was a great effort to be creative. And that is really important here. The point here is that instead of being made by people trying to be creative games are being made by businessman with simple old tricks out of their hats. And really, Pong was mind-blowing at his time for the technical achievements, but this social games have nothing remarkable or creative. That is the real issue. They are just making the same-old recipe to make people interested, not looking for something else. I don't know about you but I respect people that put effort to "write the book" instead of just using it. When I play I look for something new, and Pong delivered it at his time. This games now (infinite sequels, social, casual) fail to bring something new, thus they fail to provide the reward I look for.
Well... there was no "mind tricks" used in Pong. Players get hooked because our little brains are conditioned to look for rewards and invest effort (or the human equivalent: money) to get some reward and social games use every trick in the book to do so for money. All games want money? Sure they want. But the amount of effort they spend trying to convince you that they deserve your money is important too.
From my perspective as a consumer, what's the difference? It's all the same to me as long as I'm satisfied.
The difference is in how you do that. Behaviorism techniques, like the ones used in facebook games, are easy to put into a game but hollow. Players used to higher reward points are numb to this kind of trick. So there is people that is not satisfied.